Monomania
by She Who Loves Pineapples
Summary: Cheren thinks it's long past time to get serious. Alder thinks it's Cheren's way of coping with change, imperceptible but not unimportant. Touko thinks... well, Cheren doesn't have any idea what's going on in HER head anymore. (Set between BW and BW2.)
1. Chapter 1

**Sooooo I wrote this yeeaars ago (y'know, back in the good old days of Gen V) but then my computer died tragically and my dad accidentally threw away my external hard drive with all my back-ups. So, I thought I would never see this fic again, but then I discovered… it was backed up on my email account too, along with a few other fics I thought were gone forever. T_T So, now the plan is to touch those fics up and finish them.**

 **This fic was my answer to what happened to the three protags of BW after the game, before BW2. I thought it was kind of weird that Cheren says in BW2 that he hasn't seen Bianca in two years. I also found it strange that the protagonist apparently didn't bother to keep in contact with anyone back home when she went chasing after N. …I mean, it's probably just because the game writers didn't think about it, but it's a fic writer's job to come up with better reasons than that.**

He would never admit it, but sometimes, deep down inside, Cheren wished he was weak.

Weak people had it easier. He knew this because he used to be weak himself. If Cheren was still weak, he wouldn't have to train alone in a cave all day. He could spend all day with his friends playing Wii and watching movies and talking about nothing. Weak people played all day, because they had nothing to lose by letting skills deteriorate. Weak people always did what they want, because they didn't have the willpower to resist it. And weak people always had someone nearby to protect them.

When Cheren was weak, he had Touko. From first grade when she chased away a pair of third-grade bullies who stole his glasses, through seventh grade when she gave a black eye to his first girlfriend of three days who kissed another boy in the cafeteria, to the day several months ago when she fought alongside Reshiram to save the future of the Unova, Touko had always been the protector. Now she was training to be the Champion, the protector of the whole region, and Cheren knew that no matter how much time he spent training in the mountain, he'd never surpass her. He'd come to accept it. But that didn't mean he'd give up. Sometimes he wished he could give up. But he couldn't, because he wasn't weak.

He wondered if Touko would be coming to challenge him today.

The storm of leaves came at him and snapped him out of his thoughts. It was easier to dodge than usual; Cheren managed to avoid it completely by ducking behind a boulder. The leaves sailed over his head or hit the boulder and fell, but Cheren flinched as one particularly forceful leaf blade severed part of a strand of hair off of his cowlick. He waited for the storm to pass, then brushed the leaf off his head and stood up.

The amount of leaves was smaller than usual. They were practicing to improve accuracy, not power, so there should have been a large amount of leaves coming at him with a small amount of force. Serperior always got more forceful as it grew tired; clearly it was nearly out of power points. Cheren didn't order Serperior to attack again, but beckoned to it. It slithered to him and Cheren ran his hand along its smooth neck.

"I think you're done for now. Good job, Serperior. Return," he ordered. Serperior disappeared, leaving Cheren alone. He exhaled and sunk to the floor.

This kind of training was new to him. He usually watched as his Pokémon sparred with each other or attacked wild Pokémon. It was only recently that he started training himself alongside his Pokémon – a method that he knew Touko employed, as well as Marshall and Alder. The hero of Unova, one of the Elite Four, and the Champion himself. If three of the most powerful trainers in the region all did it, it must be beneficial. So he practiced his physical evasiveness while Serperior practiced its accuracy. He'd worn thicker clothes than usual and told Serperior to use as little force as possible, but still his skin – mostly his face, since everything else was covered – was nicked in a few places where the leaves hit. It didn't hurt much. 

His body was damp with sweat. He removed the protective jacket he was wearing and took a swig from a water bottle. The cave air was cool.

If he was weak, he could go to sleep right now, and wouldn't that be nice? He knew he should stop thinking that way. He forced himself to remember the drawbacks of weakness. That dependent feeling that he couldn't go anywhere without his friend coming along to protect him. The trapped feeling of being confined to Nuvema Town, which was never big enough. The humiliation of having to ask for favors because he couldn't get what he needed on his own, and he couldn't go without his wants...

Someday he would be strong enough to live as though he was weak without any consequences. But fantasizing would get him nowhere. He would simply have to train harder until he reached that point.

Loud, clunky footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Touko. He would recognize those footsteps anywhere. He stood to greet her.

She caught him putting his second sleeve through his jacket. She skipped up to him and kicked a few pebbles off to the side as she halted in front of him. "Sup, Cheren!" she greeted, and before he could answer, continued, "Hey, hey, Cheren, guess what? Did you know that if a guy drinks, like, three quarts of soymilk every day, it'll make him grow boobs?"

Cheren raised an eyebrow at her. "It's nice to see you, too," he told her. "Is there any particular reason you thought this information would be relevant to my interests?"

She grinned. "Nope. I just thought it was cool. But now that you mention it, I wonder if it would work on me..."

"Um, good luck with that."

"Thanks!" Touko flipped her ponytail. "Anyway... you ready to battle?"

"...Actually, no," Cheren told her reluctantly, though he hated to miss the opportunity. He hadn't battled Touko in several days. "We've been training all day, and everyone needs some time to rest up before we can keep going."

"Oh, so you're heading to the Pokémon Center now?" she asked.

He nodded his head.

"Well, that's cool with me," she said, turning around and skipping away. "I came all this way, I don't wanna fly all the way back!" Her loud voice echoed. "C'mon, slowpoke."

It was starting to rain. Cheren's cautious attempts to evade a large mud puddle were foiled by Touko jumping right into the middle of it, splashing him and soaking his jeans up to his knees. He scowled and she laughed as they entered the building together. 

He didn't say a word to the nurse, he simply nodded his head as he handed her his Pokémon. "It'll be about an hour for typical training weariness," she told him, and he nodded again and left.

He usually spent healing times reviewing battle strategies, but Touko would have none of it. "I flew all the way here to battle you, and you don't even battle with me! So you better do _something_ to entertain me, or else I'll beat you up!" She shook a fist at him playfully, then blinked as she noticed something. "By the way, what happened to your face?"

"Huh?"

"Your face. It's like you're covered in paper cuts."

Cheren scoffed and evaded the question. "Well, what about _your_ face? And your arms, and legs, and your... everywhere else. You're covered in bruises, too."

"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "I'm _always_ like this. You're usually not. I'm curious."

Cheren was slightly flustered; he was embarrassed to admit he's been copying her training style. "I got hit with a leaf storm."

Touko laughed.

"Why is that funny?" He scowled.

"Because you got hit with a leaf storm."

"That's not much of an explanation."

" _Because_ , dude, it's an _injury_!" she emphasized, huffing and rolling her eyes as though she could''t believe he was that dense. "Injuries are hilarious! Like, one time, I was in Skyla's gym, and I got into the canon, and I, like, forgot to adjust it to the minimum settings before going in, so I flew up straight up, slammed into the wall, slid down, and got a concussion. It was _awesome_!"

Cheren gave her the look he always gave her when she needed to calm down. "You've told me that story before. Also, you should probably stop getting concussions all the time. Too many concussions can cause permanent damage."

"Okayokayokay," she cut in. Cheren could tell she wasn't really listening to him. "What I was _trying_ to say was, it's better to laugh about stuff like that. I mean, how else would you expect me to respond? Did you want me to kiss it better or something?"

"No, but - "

Suddenly she had him by the ears and was grinning wickedly into his face. "Look, you're blushing! That must be a yes! Fine, I'll kiss it better!" She moved her head closer to him, and a confused Cheren closed his eyes and braced himself.

Except suddenly she let go of his ears and lightly shoved him away. "Just kidding! I wasn't about to kiss _you!_ I thought you would resist more. If you want a kiss, go find someone else to kiss you. Go to Nimbasa City and you'll probably find some random person there to hit on you. It happens to me every time I pass the Ferris wheel, and my friend Touya – you don't know him but he's awesome – he met his boyfriend there. Anyway, you should try it!"

"I just didn't feel like fighting you since it would hurt my ears," Cheren protested.

"Okay, well, look, there's Alder!" Touko said, ignoring him once again. "Alder seems nice. I bet he would kiss you!" And before he could stop her, she had sprung from her seat, skipped up to Alder, who was busy speaking to Shantal about something, and shouted, "Hey, Alder! Come kiss Cheren!"

Cheren wasn't sure if he wanted to die, or kill Touko. The whole room interrupted into confused giggles, thanks to Touko's lack of an indoor voice. Even the mild-mannered nurse was trying to hide a smirk.

"Excuse me for a second, Touko. I'm talking to Shantal right now," Alder said, completely ignoring her odd greeting. Touko tapped her feet. She was not used to people ignoring her odd greetings, which was probably why she used them. Cheren thought that now would be a good time to make his escape and never, ever enter this building again, but just as he was standing up, Shantal left and Alder turned to face Touko. "Good to see you, Touko! What's new for you?"

"Nothing. Cheren says he wants you to kiss his boo-boos. Come here!" she grabbed Alder by the arm and started dragging him over to Cheren.

"Pardon?"

"Touko, will you stop rambling nonsense for once in your life?" Cheren tried to sound unfazed, but failed to keep a note of desperate pleading out of his voice. "I said no such thing!"

But she kept dragging the older man along and finally deposited him right in front of Cheren. Cheren stole a glance of Alder's stern-but-kind face, then looked down at his hands. He didn't like to speak to Alder. He was more than a little embarrassed about his past behavior around the man, and would've been quite pleased if Alder were to forget his existence entirely. Though it wasn't even a year ago, he'd grown up quite a bit since the day he had decided it was his place to give the Champion a tongue-lashing and announce his plans to usurp the man in front of a crowd of preschoolers. He was a different person now. He just hadn't had the chance to prove it.

Alder – who, quite fortunately, knew what Touko was like and was probably able to draw the conclusion on his own that she was making up something ridiculous to embarrass Cheren on purpose – smiled and greeted him simply. "Well, if it isn't young Cheren! How are you?"

Such old-fashioned speech. "I'm fine," Cheren said, as polite as he could be while also sounding as uninteresting as he can be, so Alder would get bored soon and leave him alone.

"Training hard?"

Cheren nodded. 

"Treating your Pokémon well?"

Cheren nodded.

"Good, good." Alder clasped a hand on Cheren's shoulder, startling him into looking up and meeting Alder's violet eyes. He had a kind smile, completely removed from the patient-but-disapproving look he used to wear when he saw Cheren. "Take care of your Pokémon. Enjoy every minute with them."

"I will," Cheren said, finding it very difficult to know what to do with his eyes. Looking off to the side or ground would be rude, but he found it difficult to stare the man down directly like this.

Touko came to his rescue. "Hey, Alder! Alder, guess what!" she piped up.

Alder patted Cheren's shoulder twice before turning to face Touko. "What?" His voice sounded slightly amused.

"Did you know that in Orre, if you steal soap, the punishment is to wash yourself with it until it's all used up?"

Alder raised his eyebrows. "No. I did not know that."

"And here, it's illegal to carry a Vanillite in your pocket… on Sunday. _Specifically_ on Sunday. Of course, no one cares about that law anymore, because no one would put a Vanillite in their pocket anyway."

Alder said something to her, asking her where she got all the random facts she had a tendency of spewing at people, but Cheren didn't pay attention. He was too busy trying to block the embarrassing situation from his memory and nervously replaying the exchange with Alder in his head – was he respectful enough? Did Alder understand how he has changed? A light, glowing type of feeling lingered on his shoulder where Alder touched it...

"Well, I must be going now," Alder said, and Cheren snapped back to attention. "I'm going to speak at an assembly at a school in Striatron City tomorrow. I'd best be off if I'm to arrive by dark."

"See ya later," Touko chanted cheerfully as she casually waved the fingers on one hand.

Cheren nodded his head. "Travel safely."

Again, Alder stopped walking to look him straight in the eye, an unreadable expression frozen on his face. "Thank you for your concern, Cheren. I will certainly try."

Cheren's eyes darted back and forth between the Champion's face and his own knees. "Of course," he mumbled.

Alder looked them over for a mere second before proceeding on his way.

"'Travel safely'?" Touko snorted as Alder left, not even bothering to wait until he was out of earshot. "What are you, his mommy?"

Cheren waited until Alder was out of the building before caving into his not-so-mature side and socking her in the face.

She dodged easily, as he knew she would. "Dude, what was that for?" Her voice was infuriatingly casual.

"Everything you just did!" He threw another punch at her and succeeded in hitting her upper arm, but he knew it didn't actually hurt her - the side of him that (for whatever stupid reason) loved Touko to pieces had held him back, as did his lack of physical strength. "Not only do you embarrass me on purpose, but you have to pester the Champion about it, too!"

She caught his arm and playing with his fingers for a few seconds before Cheren managed to yank it away. She flashed an amused grin. "I was just trying to get him to do you a simple favor. And I did not pester him. I politely struck up a conversation."

"Since when is it polite to shout in someone's face while he's talking to someone else?" Cheren shot her the most disapproving glare he could muster. "And stop smiling for once! It's not funny, Touko."

She couldn't suppress a giggle. "Sorry, Cheren. You getting mad just makes it funnier."

"Oh, honestly!" Cheren gave up, turned around, and crossed his arms. He'd learned from experience that the only thing to do when Touko was like this was to cut off her source of entertainment – any reaction but ignoring her would just fuel the fire. "You're such a bother. Let me read my book."

She was quiet for about as long as it took for him to take the small book from the waiting room table and find the page he was on the last time he was here. As soon as he stopped flipping pages, she started up again. She said his name once, then twice, and then, after a minute with no response, broke out into a chorus of, "Cheren? Cheren? Cherry-cherry-Cheren! Cheren? _Cheren_! Sharon? Four-eyes? Hipsterpants? _Cheeeeerreeeeen!"_ He ignored her. She didn't make it easy to ignore her (she _knew_ he hated how all the teachers mispronounced his name as 'Sharon'!), but he managed. It's a skill he'd had to develop.

Until she leaned over and swiftly yanked the book out of his hand.

"Touko!" he shouted as heard pages ruffle. "Touko, you'll damage the book!"

" _In-synch Training: Intense Work-outs for You and Your Pokémon_!" she read. Her voice was unnecessarily and quite deliberately loud.

"Give it back," he ordered flatly.

She ignored him and turned her back, anticipating an attempt to swipe the book from her hands. "'Part Four: Accuracy. Accuracy and evasiveness go hand in hand, so for the Pokémon to gain accuracy, the trainer must gain evasiveness at an equal rate.'"

Cheren lunged for the book, and she easily held it above his reach (she'd always been a few inches taller than him) and leaned her head back to read the text to read the text. "'...Practice dodging as your Pokémon attacks you with a wide-ranged move, and then gradually switch to moves with lower ranges.'" She laughed as Cheren made another failed attempt to grab the book. "They actually want you to – wait." It dawned on her. "That's what _you're_ doing, isn't it? That's why you got hit with a leaf storm!"

Cheren should have known she'd figure it out. As much as she liked to act like it, Touko wasn't stupid. Cheren crossed his arms. "What of it? I just wanted to try it out!"

" _Why_?"

"Because I wasn't getting strong enough with my old methods."

"So you decided to let your Pokémon beat you up?" She raised her eyebrows. "No offense, but that's just stupid."

He scowled at her. "You're one to talk! You say you train with your Pokémon, too, and you're the one who always looks like she just got mugged! Miss Injuries-are-cool."

"I train with my Pokémon, but not like this! I climb trees with them and swim with them and stuff like that – I don't _fight_ them!" She waves her hands dramatically. "Also, I didn't say injuries are cool, I said injuries funny, but not if you do it on purpose! Like, if you fall out of a tree and get a concussion, that's funny, but if you _jump_ out of a tree – well, okay, that might be funny too, but…"

He didn't know why she was reacting so strongly. He didn't know why he was so embarrassed about it. But he _was_ embarrassed, and the whole room has been listening to Touko's outburst, so he grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her outside. She was oddly compliant about it.

"The way I train isn't any of your business, Touko," he said when they were out. Fortunately, the rain had let up; all that remained was a faint sprinkle.

"I don't care," she said. "It's stupid."

An inexplicable anger flared up in him. That was easy for her to say. Touko, who'd always been able to defeat him. Touko, who daydreamed as her Pokémon fought and won anyway. Touko, who used to drive away bullies by picking her nose and trying to poke them with the booger, who once chased down and tackled a pickpocket to retrieve her stolen GameBoy (she didn't manage to restrain him and he got away, but her mom bought her a GameBoy Advanced to reward her for sticking up for herself), who had never had that helpless feeling of depending on someone else's protection. She has never known what it was like to be weak. She was strong. She might even be the strongest – she'd never battled Alder, but Cheren had the sinking feeling she would win if she did. Maybe not the first time, but eventually she would get there. So she was hardly in a position to criticize his desperate – yes, desperate, he admitted to himself – training methods.

He wanted to say that out loud to her. But he knew it wouldn't have any effect. Because he knew that, deep down inside, even if she wasn't the strongest... she wouldn't care. She didn't even want the strength she had. She enjoyed it, but she didn't cherish it like he would. She hadn't battled Alder for no other reason than that she had no great interest in becoming Champion. She didn't need this strength.

And this made Cheren angrier than anything.

"Just shut up and give the book back," he said quietly. He didn't want to explode on her, but if she kept pushing him, he didn't know how long he could hold back his (admittedly irrational) anger.

"I'd give it back if it wasn't so stupid," she said in an oddly-serious tone.

"Touko, I am not in the mood for this. Give it back so we can go inside. It's freezing out here."

"I won't give it back until you admit how stupid it is."

He gritted his teeth. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Friends don't let friends read stupid books!" Touko said stubbornly. "Why don't you read the stuff me and Bianca read anymore?" 

That did it. He's snapped. "Touko, not everyone has time to read comic books all day and still be decent at battling! I'm glad you're as strong as you need to be! Good for you! But if you expect me to be a decent match for you, then stop bothering me when I'm trying to study!"

"I don't care if you're a decent match for me or not!" Touko put her hands on her hips. "I don't care about battling you! I win every time, anyway!"

Cheren froze. It was a low blow, attacking his pride like that. Yeah, they both knew that he almost never beat her, that she got stronger every day while he felt his skills had gone stagnant, and that things didn't seem like they were going to change any time soon – but he thought he was a bigger challenge than most. He thought that was why she sought him out every day. But she didn't care? What did that mean?

"Then why do you even come here in the first place?" He felt pathetic. He was practically begging her to soothe his ego, to take it back, to prove or at least pretend she wasn't just humoring him.

She hesitated. For a second, a soft look flashed on her face. She looked as though she was about to admit to something important, something painful – and then her eyes hardened again. She forced her lips into an unnatural grin.

And then she swiftly flung the book off the cliff and into a muddy puddle down below.

He ran to the edge, but it's too late – the book was submerged. Soaked. Completely destroyed. He couldn't return it to the Pokémon center in that state.

"What's the matter with you?" he scolded her. "That book belongs to the Pokémon League!"

Touko stuck her hand in her purse and pulled out a wad of bills and coins. "Take it. I'll give them extra, if they promise to buy something else instead of another copy of that dumb book."

He glared at her outstretched hand, not wanting to accept anything from her even though he knows it's her responsibility. "No. I'll just buy them another copy myself."

She shoved the money back into her jeans pockets, not caring when a few coins fall to the sides. "Cheren, I'm doing this because I'm your friend, and you're being stupid, and my friends aren't allowed to be stupid! So stop injuring yourself, or we can't be friends anymore, because I'm too cool to be friends with an idiot! Don't you know Serperior can _kill_ you?"

Oh. _Oh._ So that's what this was about. She was still trying to protect him. Just like in second grade when she would physically assault anyone (except herself) who teased him about his glasses. Just like when she insisted on walking one step ahead of him at all times while they traveled through Wellspring Cave to chase after Team Plasma. Well, maybe if she had let him fight his own battles back then, he wouldn't be such a weakling today. Then he wouldn't even be in this situation.

"How I train is none of your business," he repeated himself, more fiercely. "And if you don't care about battling me, then leave me alone from now on! I don't wanna see you at all if all you want to do is ramble inane and useless anecdotes and be a big, obnoxious bother! Good-bye, Touko!" He spun around and stormed away in the other direction.

"Well, screw you, too!" she called after him. He heard a splatter as she stomped her boot into the mud. A few seconds later, he felt the roaring wind from Reshiram's wings beat at his back as the dragon's shadow loomed over him. By the time he turned around to look, all he could see was a red spark in the sky.

He was wet and cold but didn't feel like going inside and being around other people. He leaned up against the building, put his head in his palm, and groaned in frustration. Touko. She'd been more obnoxious than usual lately. Usually he was pretty tolerant of her, but that whole exchange had gone bad fast. And her final few words to him actually sounded hurt. But so what? He shouldn't feel bad. It was about time for her to learn she couldn't just do whatever she wants. And it was especially time for her to learn she couldn't boss him around. It wasn't her job to protect him anymore – no, screw that, it had never been her job. He could protect himself, and he could make his own decisions.

He checked his watch. It would still be a while before his Pokémon were ready. He couldn't use the time to study with the book destroyed, but he might as well use the time to eat, so he can train through dinner time. He returned to the waiting room just long enough to purchase a Styrofoam bowl of instant noodles from a vending machine and fill it with water from the coffee maker, before returning outside. As much as he hated cold, he prefered it to being in a room full of people who had just witnessed him getting dragged into a big scene by Touko.

He'd forgotten to get a spoon, but it didn't matter since no one is around to see the broth spill down his chin as he sipped straight from the cup, and it felt good to hold the hot cup in his frigid hands. As he drank the noodles, a memory entered his head of another rainy day years ago. School hadn't started yet that day; the children were on the playground. Dark blue heavy coat. Naked trees. Wet tan bark. Wet swings. His friends weren't there yet. Nothing to do. There was always someone playing basketball...

 _Cheren watched his classmates bounce pass the ball back and forth, throw the ball through the hoop so easily, laugh and throw insults and argue about the score. He liked the irregular beat made by the stomping of feet on the wet ground and dribbling of the ball, and the way the team members seemed to form a human stampede as they chased after the ball in unison. Basketball was his favorite sport. It hadn't always been his favorite sport – he never liked sports much before – but last Saturday his parents had taken him to Nimbasa City to watch the game in person. The Nimbasa Hoopsters versus the Opelucid World-Walkers. The World-Walkers were so good that they spent half the game goofing off and still won. At first, Cheren felt bad for the Hoopsters, but then in the middle of the game one of the World-Walkers spotted Cheren in the audience and told him to come into the court, and so Cheren's parents made him go, and that World-Walker – Cheren didn't know whose name was who yet – told Cheren to play for him. So he picked Cheren up on his shoulders and told him to aim for the basket and Cheren threw the ball. He didn't make it, but he came so close! It even hit the rim, which was better than Cheren had ever done before, since when Cheren shot, the ball usually didn't even get close to the net. And then the World-Walker put Cheren on the ground and patted his head and told him that he would be pretty good someday, if he practiced and got taller. That made Cheren like the World-Walkers a little bit more, even though the player immediately turned around and taunted one of the Hoopsters by saying Cheren had a better shot than he was. He was proud because he did hit the rim and all, but that didn't mean he should brag about it..._

 _So Cheren liked basketball now. He took a deep breath, stepped up to the white line that marked the edge of the court, and squeaked, "Can I play?"_

 _No one heard him, or perhaps they did but wouldn't answer. Cheren stood there awkwardly, hoping someone would notice him, wondering if he should ask again, until the ball got loose and bounced towards him. Without thinking, he reached out and caught the wet ball in his hands. Suddenly everyone's eyes were on him._

" _Um... can I play, please?" he repeated._

 _The players looked at each other and then looked at him. "He wants to play?" Gino, a boy from his class, whispered a little too loudly. "He's a wimpy little nerd!"_

" _Does anyone need an extra player?" an older boy asked._

" _I don't want him!" another boy said loudly._

" _Uh... sorry," said the older boy diplomatically, as if Cheren couldn't hear. "We have even teams already, so there's no room."_

" _Oh... okay," Cheren said quietly, trying not to let his voice crack. He tossed the ball back and turned away quickly, swiftly running to his favorite spot under the tree where he could bury his nose in a book to hide his oncoming tears._

 _Touko arrived at school and came running up to him a minute later._

" _Cheren? What's wrong?" she asked as she crouched down on the bench next to him._

" _The basketball players won't let me play with them!" Cheren cried, covering his face._

" _Well, did they have even teams?"_

" _They said I was a nerdy little wimp!" Cheren cried. "They said they didn't have even teams but obviously that was just because they didn't wanna play with me!"_

" _You can play with me," Touko offered._

" _I wanna play on a real team!" Cheren protested._

 _Touko sighed, then stood up. "C'mere," she ordered, offering a hand._

 _Cheren wiped his nose on his napkin from his lunch bag one more time before getting up and taking her hand. She started walking immediately, barely stopping long enough for him to throw his used napkin away as she marched him towards the basketball hoops. "Touko...?" Cheren asked, but she didn't respond._

 _She left Cheren to stand politely at the white line once again, but she wandered straight into the court and caught the ball as it came towards her. "Time out," she commanded._

" _Touko, go away and give the ball back!" Gino yelled._

" _Why wouldn't you let Cheren play with you?" Touko demanded._

 _The players at last noticed Cheren, turning their heads to him. Cheren withdrew into his oversized winter coat._

" _We already had even teams!"_

" _Uh-huh." Touko let go of the ball and started dribbling it. "Well, I'll join one team, and Cheren can join the other team, and we can all play together. Okay?"_

" _But someone left!" a girl piped up. "Then it wouldn't be even teams anymore!" Her teammates murmured in agreement._

" _Okay, so then Cheren can play and I'll just watch. Okay?"_

 _Realizing they had no way out, the classmates groaned. Cheren shrunk back again. Yes, he wanted to play, but not with people who so obviously didn't want him there! That was worse than being alone._

" _No one wants to play with either of you!" Gino jeered, voicing the opinion that all of them secretly shared. "You both suck!"_

" _You suck!" Touko retorted. Not her most brilliant quip._

" _No, seriously!" Gino shouted. "I saw you in P.E.! Have either of you ever made a basket in your life? You both suck!"_

" _Okay, I suck, but Cheren doesn't!" Touko defended. "He just went to a basketball game, and he met a famous basketball player, and that player said that he was really good for his age!"_

 _Again, the group laughed. No one believed her. He wanted to start crying again._

" _It's true!" Cheren insisted. "I don't suck! I can hit the rim!"_

" _So? Anyone can hit the rim!" a fifth-grader taunted. Cheren could have argued that it was a big milestone for him, but it hardly would've helped his case. Instead, he helplessly dug at the wet blacktop with his shoe._

" _Okay, enough," Touko said seriously, putting the ball on the ground and securing it with her foot. "Let us play or we'll get the yard duty! Okay?"_

" _Sooo scary," Gino said sarcastically. But the group nonetheless grudgingly let them both join, each on different teams. Cheren flashed Touko an obligatory smile of gratitude, and she responded by flashing him a thumbs-up sign._

 _Cheren doesn't remember most of the details of the game. He remembers thinking Touko would make a good World-Walker – at one point her strategy involved tickling his teammates' armpits to get them to drop the ball. And she was quite strong and fast, on par with the best of players in that regard. But she still sucked. She could jump and throw the ball high, but her aim was almost as bad as Cheren's. In general, she failed at following plans or working together with others. She managed to make the other team hate her, but she managed to make her own team hate her, too._

 _Cheren himself was having trouble not getting trampled. He was tiny for his age, and his glasses fell off so easily, and it was just hard to keep up with everyone else. If only he could steal the ball just once. If only he could have the chance to shoot and show everyone that he didn't suck. Then they'd be sorry!_

 _Finally he managed to squeeze through the mass of players and snatch the ball out of the enemy team member's hand. Before anyone even noticed, he was dribbling towards the basket. Everyone ganged up to chase after him. They almost had him! Gino was to the side. "Pass it!" Gino yelled. Cheren hesitated for a split second before taking a deep breath, jumping, and hurdling the ball as high as he could._

 _He closed his eyes and silently begged the ball to go in for once in his life._

 _It didn't even hit the rim._

 _His teammates snarled in frustration, yelling and complaining. Some were passive-aggressive about it, others blatantly told Cheren how wimpy he was. "S-sorry," he squeaked. "I'm really sorry!"_

" _Why didn't you pass the ball, Cheren!?" Gino demanded. "Man, you suck!"_

" _S-sorry!" Cheren repeated, stepping back._

" _No one wants you here!" he raged. His face was actually red._

 _Cheren was starting to get scared. "I said I'm sorry!"_

 _The teams started to meet up at the side; time to start up again. He was humiliated. He found Touko, who was in the middle of telling a joke to another girl on Cheren's team, tugged on her jacket sleeve, and mumbled, "I don't wanna play anymore."_

" _Why not?" Touko is surprised. "Just because you missed one basket? That's no reason to quit!"_

" _I just don't want to anymore, okay?" Cheren defended, folding his arms. "Can we please just go play with Bianca or something?"_

" _Geez, no need to yell. Fine, let's go! Hey, my mom said it's gonna rain more during lunch today! Let's dig a big hole in the sandbox so it'll fill up with water and make a pool!"_

 _He let her grab his hand and drag him off, but he couldn't help but turn his head and watch as the game started back up. His teammates didn't even care that he left. They didn't believe, or even care, that a pro said he had talent. He'd never be strong enough to belong with them. And while he knew he had his own talents, he knew those would never be enough for them. Cheren was good at reading and spelling and math, but_ they _only cared if you were good at basketball and skateboarding and eating large amounts of ice-cream in one sitting and Pokémon battles..._

 _Pokemon battles._

 _His friends loved him. He knew that, and he loved his friends, too._

 _But deep down inside, he just wishes he wouldn't be the last one picked in P.E. all the time._

Cheren finds himself running his fingers through his hair absentmindedly. He hadn't thought about that day in a while. For a long time, it had remained the most embarrassing moment of his life. It was also, he remembered, about the time he first started to think seriously about Pokemon training. Of course, he wanted to be a trainer his whole life, but it was that day when he first went to Professor Araragi's lab and asked her to teach him about Pokemon, so he could have a head start when he first became a trainer. He wanted to do it because he had a chance – Pokemon training was the one sport that required more brains than brawn.

He had a rough time, back in elementary school. He didn't think about it much these days – it was ages ago. Contrary to the stereotype, it actually got better in middle school, due to most of the kids who treated him poorly dropping out to go on Pokémon journeys. The only ones who went to middle school were nerdy weaklings like him. And people with strict parents, like Touko and Bianca.

But he hadn't been relieved when half of his classmates went away forever. Bianca had been. Touko had been. The two girls had actually baked a cake together on the day Gino left Nuvema, complete with frosting-tube drawings of a stick figure labeled GINO getting eaten by an ambiguous blob-like Pokemon. That's how cheery they'd been. Cheren pretended to agree. But now he remembered that the classrooms just felt empty, and the people he talked to there never said the things he wanted to hear.

He was inexplicably disgusted. Was all of that why he became unable to settle for anything less than perfect superiority? Why he became doomed to permanent dissatisfaction with continual progress and personal milestones? Was that why he needs so desperately to defeat Touko? All he's become... and everything he's done so far – all of that, was just the result of a deep-seated craving for validation from peers who have probably long forgotten him?

It was beyond pathetic. If his bullies were to hear about it, it would only confirm all the things they said about him.

"No – that's not why I want to get stronger!" he argued aloud. "Maybe it was before, but I've changed. I'm doing this so I can protect the ones I care about!"

But then, why were his loved ones the ones he strived to defeat? Why does it hurt so much to admit to himself that they never did need his protection?

Introspection is such a bother, he told himself, dismissing the whole line of thought. Soon it wouldn't matter what his reasoning was, or how pathetic it made him. He just had to keep getting stronger.


	2. Chapter 2

As disciplined as Cheren always strove to be, he'd never been a morning person. The frigid mountain air in particular made it difficult for him to wake up. Cheren was almost grateful that his training book was gone. It was a good day for an excuse not to follow the training program – he was so tired he could barely walk, let alone dodge leaves. Instead, he watched Serperior spar against Simipour while he sat on the sidelines drinking orange peel tea.

He felt like crap. Unhappy memories made him feel like crap. Stupid arguments (and, in hindsight, the whole thing with Touko was _very_ stupid) made him feel like crap. And cup noodles made him feel crappiest of all. He knew it wasn't good to put that much sodium in his body.

It wasn't even noon when he heard those familiar clunky footsteps again, bringing his mood to a whole new level of crappy. Not Touko again. She'd probably come to demand he do some ridiculous favor for her to forgive him. Whatever it is, he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't even apologize. All he'd done was demand that she respect other people's property, and if she had a problem with it, it only went to show how much she needed to learn her lesson! Even if she made a big deal out of it and threatened not to talk to him until he apologized, he wouldn't back down. He didn't know why he stayed friends with such a bothersome girl this long, anyway, and -

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Touko said as soon as they made eye contact.

Before he could stop himself, Cheren blurted out, "I'm sorry, too."

There was an awkward pause during which Cheren mentally slapped himself and wondered if it was too late to take the apology back, but then Touko forced a toothy grin and shoved a brown paper bag in Cheren's nose. "Great! I knew you would say that! I stopped at Nuvema Bakery and brought you some bagels on the way here! Do you want cinnamon-raisin, or blueberry? Oh, and I got some strawberry cream cheese, too! I wanted to try the basil-flavored cream cheese, but they were all out of sundried tomato bagels, and – "

"Touko..."

"Don't be like that, Cheren. I _know_ you love bagels! If this is about your _diet_ or whatever, you can just forget about it. You're out in the cold all day; you need the fat!"

"Oh, my goodness," Cheren interrupted, shaking his head. "I didn't even say anything and you're already arguing with me. If it will shut you up, I'll have half a blueberry one, please. Thank you."

Touko was strangely quiet while they ate, and for a minute Cheren felt guilty for telling her to shut up. Then, finally, after feeding half of her bagel to Serperior and Simipour, she said, "Just so you know, I still think you're an idiot."

Was she really going to start this up again? He stopped chewing, but didn't acknowledge her comment save to flash the slightest hint of an annoyed glare.

"And I suppose you still think I'm a big bother," she continued.

"How did you guess?" Cheren asked dryly.

"You're an idiot, and I'm a bother. Can we still be friends?"

He raised his eyebrows. "…Yes?"

She smiled sadly. "Really?"

Cheren sighed in exasperation. Great. She was trying to turn this into a serious talk. He should've known the bagels were a Trojan Ponyta. "Touko, what is this really about? Because I really hate roundabout ways of addressing things."

She crossed her arms. "Nothing. I just asked you a question."

He smacked his face. "That was some question. Especially with the 'Really' after my answer!"

"I was just... kidding, okay?" 

"You can't just say something like that and then back out of it!" Cheren protested.

"I should've gotten some banana bagels, too..."

"Fine, change the subject like that. Just don't go festering and bringing this up later when I don't have time to deal with drama."

"Geez, I told you it was nothing!" Touko grabbed a bagel from the bag and rips it in half aggressively. "Anyway, when was the last time you saw Bianca?"

"A few weeks ago, I guess. Why? What about you?"

"Last Saturday," Touko answered with a sniff.

"How is she?"

"She's... fine, I guess. She's doing really great. She'd doing great working for Professor Juniper. And she..." She paused to sniffle a little bit. "...She, the other day, she said Professor Juniper was going to some big professor meeting summit thingy... in Kanto, so..." Her voice cracked slightly on the last few words.

"What's wrong?" Cheren asked.

"N-nothing!" Touko squeaked, wiping her face with her wristbands.

"Are you crying?" 

"It's just... I bought all these bagels but I'm not hungry anymore and _you're_ not gonna eat them and if I leave them too long they'll go stale!"

Cheren stared in utter confusion as Touko proceeded to tear her bagel apart and throw the pieces across the cave. She started sobbing when Simipour chased after them. " _That's_ why you're crying?"

"I know, it's stupid!" she said between sobs. "I don't _know_ what I'm doing. I don't know why I'm acting this way. I'm probably PMS-ing or something, I don't know. I mean I don't think I am because I just had my period a week ago, but my periods are like, super weird like that, they'll just pop out of nowhere randomly. One time I went like three months without one but then when I finally got it, it was super heavy and the cramps were so bad I could barely walk. I should go on birth control or something. My mom buys it for me but only because Bianca needed it because she kept getting really bad PMS but her dad flipped his nut when she asked so I pretended to have her symptoms so Mom would buy it for me so I could give it to her, but I guess now we both have enough money to buy it for ourselves..."

"Okay, okay, I get it, that's _way more_ than I needed to know," Cheren finally cut in, his face heating up.

"Oh, please!" Touko kicked the dirt. "Why do guys freak out so much about periods?"

"I didn't freak out! I very politely asked you not to give me so much information!"

"All I said was that I was PMS-ing. It's not like I went into graphic detail about what comes out of my -!"

"Touko, stop!" Cheren shouted, his face as hot as a Magcargo.

Touko laughed.

"That was not funny," Cheren stated sourly. "Really. It wasn't."

"Well, your reaction was. And I feel better now." She closed her red eyes and flashed him a smile.

"Weren't you saying something about Bianca?" Cheren asked, desperate for a change of subject.

"Oh, right. She said the Professor is going to Kanto for some kind of... I don't know. Meeting or something for Pokemon experts to share their knowledge, and Bianca got invited to go along. So, she'll be in Kanto for a couple months."

"Good for her." Cheren raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"You should come back to Nuvema to see her off. Like you guys always did for me whenever my parents made me go visit my grandma in Orre."

"Yeah, sure. When is she leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why didn't she say anything about this before?"

"Her dad said no, but then he randomly changed his mind at the last minute. After I went to his house. With Drumstick. And basically told him that if he wouldn't let her go on the plane with Juniper, she'd be going on Drumstick with me. After making sure he saw me fly above his house and accidentally-on-purpose fall off and land on his roof."

Cheren's eyes widened. "How far up did you jump from? You could have damaged the house and got in huge trouble, and you could've gotten hurt!"

"Yeah, that's why I didn't tell you ahead of time," she agreed matter-of-fact-ly. "Anyway, yeah, that's why Bianca didn't even know she was going until yesterday. Which is why we both need to see her today."

Cheren frowned. "I'm already behind on training. None of my Pokemon have gained any levels in two days, and I've had trouble getting started today due to my _book_ not being here."

"Your Pokemon haven't gained any levels because your book sucks – they get experience from fighting _Pokemon_ , not humans! Your Pokémon can spar with Bianca's when we get there, or something. What's wrong with taking a little time off anyway? You're not going to see Bianca for _days_."

"A couple months isn't that long," Cheren defended. "Besides, Bianca's Pokemon aren't that strong."

"Yeah, they actually are. The only reason she always loses to you is because she's not as good at strategizing or thinking on her feet. If your Pokemon were to just spar without you guys telling them what to do, hers would have a pretty good chance against yours."

"I'm… not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," Cheren said honestly.

"Neither. It's just a fact." Touko stood up and offered him a calloused hand. "Now are you coming, or will I have to kidnap you?"

Cheren stared blankly at her hand for a moment. Did he want to go? On the one hand, part of him wanted to refuse just to show Touko he could – she needed to learn that pushiness would get her nowhere. On the other hand, Bianca would probably be disappointed if he didn't show up, and there was no reason to punish her just because Touko was being a bother. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if he could even tolerate a ride with Touko when she was being so moody. But on the _other_ hand, if he was ever going to take a day off of training to hang out with his friends, the day in which he didn't have his book would be the most convenient day to do so, and he could take the opportunity to go to the bookstore while he was in town…

Cheren stood up without the aid of Touko's hand and recalled his Pokemon. "Fine. I'll go." He considered adding a condition that Touko would have to give him a ride back the next day, but before he could say anything, she was shouting, "Last one to the edge is a rotten egg!" and taking off. Cheren followed after her and saw her barely pause to let Reshiram out of its ball before leaping off the cliff and onto its back.

Cheren didn't show it, but riding on Reshiram – or Drumstick, as Touko called it, but it felt too strange to call a legendary Pokémon by a nickname - always unnerved him. He generally tried to avoid it, but it was the only way to get to Nuvema Town without taking all day, so he'd allow it for now. It wasn't so much the heights that scared him, but the instability, knowing that no external force was there to stop him from falling. The fact that Touko was an incredibly impulsive flier didn't help. One time, Touko told him weeks ago, she'd had the brilliant idea to fly low over Castelia City, and at one point Reshiram's tail hit a building, breaking the glass wall. Fortunately no one was hurt, but someone easily could have been, and Touko had nearly gotten her trainer's license suspended for it. The only reason she didn't was that, if the authorities had been forced to take temporary custody of Reshiram, they would've hand no idea what to do with it.

Perhaps Touko actually learned something from that experience because Cheren noticed that Reshiram was flying a lot more smoothly than usual. There was no darting about, and they avoided Castelia entirely. It almost would've been a nice opportunity to see the sights, but Cheren had put his glasses in Touko's bag so they wouldn't be blown off his face, and he couldn't see anything below but a watercolor-like blur – pretty at first, but boring after a while. Neither Cheren nor Touko spoke. It was too difficult to hear each other over the roar of Reshiram's wings, and Cheren was grateful for that. These days, being with Touko was a lot more pleasant when she wasn't talking.

The landing, as usual, was the scariest part. Cheren's stomach turned when Reshiram suddenly did a nosedive over Nuvema Town. He gripped Reshiram's feathers tightly and leans back to avoid getting whipped in the face by Touko's ponytail. The ponytail whipped him in the face anyway, so he flinched, closed his eyes, and refrained from screaming while he felt the world he couldn't see fly by him. His stomach flipped and he began to feel pressure against his ears.

Reshiram hit the ground, jolting Cheren into letting go of the Pokemon's feathers and falling backwards onto his back. He opened his eyes. The world was spinning. His heart was pounding. He took a long breath, then pinched his nose and blew out to pop his ears.

Touko shrugged and knocked on Reshiram's shoulder. This prompted Reshiram to kneel down and lower its wings. Touko slided down one, and Cheren followed her. "Thank you, Drumstick!" Touko said cheerfully. She rubbed the dragon's head for a minute before recalling it.

(-o-)

"Bianca! We're here!" Touko called as she flung open her neighbors' front door without knocking. Cheren grimaced as the door slammed into the inner wall, and the person in the living room watching them enter turned out to be not Bianca, but her father.

"Bianca's upstairs," said her father humorlessly. "Careful with the door."

"Sorry, sir," Cheren mumbled. Touko, the one who actually committed the infraction, ignored his comment save for an unconcealed eye-roll. Cheren glared at Touko, worried she'd get them both kicked out of the house. Bianca's dad either didn't notice or didn't want to get in a fight with Touko. It wouldn't have been the first time. As a child, Touko had gotten herself banned from ever seeing Bianca again countless times due to her complete lack of respect or fear for Bianca's dad. It had started out as attempts to stand up for her friend – Bianca's dad _could_ get pretty mean sometimes; he'd even called his daughter stupid and incompetent – but the results of Touko's efforts were that poor Bianca was always stuck in the middle of them, trying to play mediator and explaining to both sides that the other side only did what they did because they loved her. Eventually Bianca got sick of it and snapped at Touko for always getting her in trouble, and didn't talk for her for a week until Touko showed up at her house with a whole box of bagels and strawberry cream cheese and a solemn promise to never say anything to Bianca's father again unless Bianca told her to. Touko did stop talking to Bianca's father, but she never did stop rolling her eyes at him, or finding other ways to make it clear that she had absolutely no respect. Bianca's father seemed to grudgingly accept the fact that Touko was never going to go away, and settled for also never speaking to her unless it was absolutely necessary.

Cheren, on the other hand, used to have nightmares about Bianca's father. He was so grumpy and never smiled. It didn't help that, in second grade, Touko had convinced herself that she and Bianca were actually long-lost sisters and that Bianca's "father" was actually a kidnapper who was using Bianca to lure in other kids, and that he was fattening up all of them to eat them someday. (Both girls had A+ blood, and Bianca always had exactly three cookies in her lunch, just enough to share with her friends. Clearly, there was no other explanation.) Cheren had always known it wasn't true, of course, but there was something about Touko that made him believe what she said even if he knew it was a lie.

They entered Bianca's always-messy room to find her attempting to zip up a large, bulging suitcase. She looked up at them and smiles. "Hi, you two. I thought you might come."

"Need any help with that zipper?" asked Touko as she went to crouch beside her friend.

"No, I think I got it…"

"No, you don't! I bet you've been trying at that for ten minutes, huh? You never ask for help. But I got it, don't worry." Touko shoved Bianca aside. Bianca pressed her lips together but didn't say anything.

Touko pulled on the zipper so hard you'd think she was trying to play tug-of-war with a Hippopotas, but it didn't budge. The suitcase was stuffed, of course, to the extent that the top flap of the suitcase hovered about six inches away from the lower part. Closing it seemed hopeless.

"Why are you packing so much?" asks Cheren. "You managed fine on your trainer journey with just your green bag."

"This is a professional conference!" Bianca exclaimed. "I have to wear different clothes every day!"

"Why not take some of that out and put it in a carry-on? Planes usually let you bring a carry-on, right?"

"I could bring it like that, but I couldn't bring it home. I'm saving my carry-on for souvenirs!"

Cheren shook his head disapprovingly. Touko was still tugging on the zipper. Finally, she moved to the other side, grunted, and yanked the zipper mightily.

Touko fell over backwards, and the zipper handle flew back and hit the wall.

Bianca gasped.

"Don't worry! I can fix it!" Touko insisted. "That's just the handle!"

"No! Touko, let go!" Bianca dropped to her knees and elbowed Touko away from the suitcase. "Go get the zipper and see if we can reattach it."

"Got it! Do you have any gum? Chewed gum should be sticky enough." Touko scrambled over into the corner to look for the zipper. It couldn't be easy; Bianca's floor was covered in clothes, traveling supplies that still hadn't been put away, and loose papers covered in doodles and unorganized notes on Pokémon behavior.

"I think the problem is organization," Cheren mused. He knelt down beside the suitcase and pulled out a wrinkled orange coat. "Look, Bianca, if you'd take the time to fold your clothes it would leave you a lot of room."

Bianca snatched the coat out of Cheren's hand and stuffed it back in the suitcase like it was something he wasn't supposed to see. "Don't touch my things, please."

"I'm just trying to help," Cheren defended. "It wouldn't have been necessary if you'd learn to take care of yourself. Honestly, Bianca, what are we going to do with you? We're always helping you do basic tasks, it's really a bother."

He was teasing more than chiding, trying to sound playful, but Bianca seemed to have taken offense. Her face was red, and her lips were curled tightly.

"Bianca, I didn't mean – "

"I didn't _ask_ for your help," she interrupted. "I don't need your help! I am a strong, independent woman – and, I'm a professional – and I can pack my own suitcase!"

There was a long pause during which Bianca and Cheren stared each other down, and Touko continued to rummage through the bedroom. Bianca's face was flushed, and she looked like she was bracing herself for something, like she was preparing for a fight. Did she think he would be offended by her assertion, or something?

Instead of arguing, Cheren merely sighed. "All right, Bianca. Did Elesa tell you to say that or something?"

Her expression crumbled from defensive to hurt. "No, Cheren! I haven't even talked to her in forever!"

"Why are you yelling? I was just asking!"

"You think I can't even speak without someone telling me what to say?"

Cheren waved his hand in front of him. "I didn't mean that! I was just saying, it didn't really sound like you!"

"I found the zipper!" Touko butted in before Bianca could respond. Then she frowned. "Oh. It's broken."

Bianca bit her lip and covered her face.

"Hey, don't cry!" Touko urged, getting down on her knees next to the suitcase and reaching for the piece of the zipper that remained intact. "I mean, it's just the handle, maybe we can still – "

"Don't touch it!" With a force Cheren rarely saw in his friend, Bianca yanked the suitcase out of Touko's hand and snatched it away. Unfortunately, this involved turning it over sideways, and, since it still wasn't zipped, clothes and books spilled out all through the sides. Bianca flushed, Touko stared like she'd just been slapped, and Cheren stared in confusion. Then, with one glance at the massive piles of unpaired socks, pink lacey undergarments, and teen romance novels before her, Bianca started to cry.

"Are you… okay?" Touko asked stupidly.

"No!" Bianca shouted through her hands. "No, I'm not, because this suitcase is broken, and my stuff isn't packed, and I'll have to ask Professor Juniper if I can borrow a suitcase but she already pulled all these strings to get me to come and I _promised_ her that I'd be able to handle it all on my own but I can't even pack a stupid suitcase! I'm so useless!" She burst into sobs.

"Bianca?" Touko asked, but there was no response. "Bianca… c'mon, don't say that. You're not useless. I'm useless. It's my fault."

Bianca let out a strange laugh-sob and nodded, but didn't take her hands off her face.

"Bianca…" said Touko again. She stood up and reached for her friend's shoulder, but Bianca batted her hand away.

"Go away please. Before I say something I regret."

Touko looked guiltily at the spilled contents of the suitcase, then nodded her head solemnly and turned to leave. She offered Cheren a hand, he stood, and they exited without another word. Touko shut the door softly behind her. Bianca's dad didn't look up from the TV as they left the house.

"That didn't go well," Touko muttered when they got outside, wiping her forehead with her black wrist band.

"It's just anxiety," Cheren said. "She wants to make a good impression."

Touko walked on, but didn't say anything.

"Where are we going?" Cheren asked. It was rather like her to storm away in rage and then realize she was going the wrong direction.

"You'll see," she said.

Fifteen minutes later they were at Bianca's front door again, lugging another, much bigger suitcase behind them. Touko had dragged Cheren to her house. In the middle of bedroom floor there had been a suitcase with a Poke Ball pattern. "My friend Touya loaned it to me, but I don't think I'll use it," she had said with an explanatory tone – not bothering to explain why her friend would loan her a suit case in the first place. Cheren wasn't in the mood to ask.

Touko lugged the massive thing up to Bianca's room, its wheels thumping at every stair. Bianca opened her bedroom door, looking for the source of the noise. Her face and eyes were red, and she sniffled once or twice, but had calmed down a bit.

"Here, Bianca," said Touko. "This should solve a lot of your problems, I believe. Don't worry about calling the professor." She lifted the suitcase to the top of the staircase with a final heave and dropped it unceremoniously at Bianca's feet.

"Oh. Wow. Thank you. This is perfect." Bianca looked at her feet.

"I'm really sorry I broke your zipper."

"No, I'm sorry. It was an accident, and you'd never get that mad if I broke something of yours… which has happened. A lot. …And now you're the one giving me a new suitcase… I'm really sorry I yelled." She lowered her head and raised her shoulders slightly, as if attempting to bow without actually lowering herself. "You, too, Cheren. You were just trying to give me advice but I overreacted to what you said." She blushed slightly and whispered, "Maybe it's my period, or something."

Cheren's face heat up again and he cringed. _For goodness's sake, not this again._

Touko didn't seem to feel the same way. "Huh? What happened to that stuff I gave you for it?" she asked loudly.

Bianca's entire face turned bright red. "Touko!" she whispered sharply. "My dad is right downstairs!"

"What? I didn't actually say – "

"Ssssh!" Bianca cut in. She yanked Touko's and Cheren's wrists, pulled them into her room, and slammed the door with a squeak. "My dad isn't stupid! He could've figured out what you meant! Then he'd never let me go to Kanto." Cheren couldn't tell if Bianca was still blushing or if the redness on her face was residual from her crying episode. He, for one, was blushing.

"Uh, okay. Sorry. But you never answered my question."

"Umm… yeah. I haven't really been taking that lately. It'll be a pain to deal with on the trip; you should just take it back." Bianca picked up some loose clothes from the floor and stuffed them into the new suitcase.

"Why?" Touko asked nonchalantly. "Do you wanna have a kid or something?"

Bianca dropped half the clothes she was carrying. " _Touko_!" she squeaked. "Of course not!"

"Oh. 'Cause I was gonna say, if you do, you should name it after me. That would be awesome."

Bianca threw a sock at Touko playfully, but it missed and flew over her shoulder. "Shut up!" Touko laughed and dropped the subject.

After that, they helped Bianca pack. Touko turned on the TV and _The National Gymquirer_ played in the background, Touko only tuning in whenever a particularly stupid quote caught her attention, and she mimicked it, and then Bianca would start watching the show trying to figure out what the context of the quote was, until she was distracted by something else Touko or Cheren said or remembered they were supposed to be packing. When they were done – the suitcase wasn't quite organized enough to suit _Cheren's_ tastes, but it contained all the essentials and was capable of being closed – they each let out a couple of Pokémon, the ones they could trust to be out and about in Bianca's room without wrecking it. In Cheren's case, that was Serperior and Liepard, who were large but had mellow personalities and were content to occasionally lounge around doing nothing. Bianca released her Musharna only for it to lay on the ground asleep anyway; when Cheren questioned the point of letting it out, she said, "It likes being in on the action, even if it sleeps through it!" Then her Stoutland appeared, approached Liepard curiously, got hissed at, and cautiously turned around to sit in Bianca's lap, like it was still a little Lillipup. Touko's Archeops, Gumdrops, perched on Bianca's bedframe, and Peanut, her Samurott, saw Serperior and immediately went into a battle stance before Touko shook her head and said, "Not now, Peanut. You guys ruined my room bad enough _before_ you evolved." Though the semantics she used were a bit too complicated for most Pokémon to understand, Samurott seemed to get the message, and contented itself to lay on its back playing with its shell.

A few minutes passed. The TV show changed to something even more mind-numbing. Small talk was made.

"Catch me a rare Kanto Pokémon in Kanto, Bianca!"

"What kind of rare Pokémon?"

"Mew!"

"That's a tall order…"

" _Ladies and gentlemen, meet Hiroyuki_ ," said a male voice on the TV. Applause, and a guy wearing green overalls and a red bandana walked onto the stage down a flight of stairs. Behind him followed a Sandslash.

"Okay, then. A Caterpie!"

"Caterpie aren't rare!"

" _When Hiroyuki went to pick up his Sandslash from daycare, he was thrilled to find out that Sandslash had made friends with a Grumpig, and Grumpig had laid an egg, which hatched into this adorable Spoink!"_ The screen cut to a video of a baby Banepoo bouncing adorably on its tale. The audience collectively cooed.

"Ooh, oh! That is soooo cute! Catch me one of those!" Touko said, noticing the TV.

"Spoink are native to Sinnoh! Not Kanto!"

"Same thing."

"Touko! That's racist!"

" _Hiroyuki hatched the egg and trained Spoink up to level 57, all on his own! But way from the beginning, something felt a little bit suspicious…"_

"I was just kidding! And I'm pretty sure they're native to Hoenn."

"What? No, I really think it's Sinnoh. And I'm the one studying this!"

" _Right away when Spoink hatched, I noticed how forgetful it was. At first I didn't think much of it, but then I wondered – was it born knowing Amnesia? I thought, that can't be right! My Sandslash doesn't know Amnesia! But then – "_

"All right, I'm calling Professor Juniper!"

"What? No, don't bother her! I'm pretty sure it says on the PokéDex!"

"None of us has a Spoink on our PokéDex…" Touko said, as the dial tone on her Xtransceiver rang.

"Touko! I said don't call – "

"Hello?" The professor's voice. "Touko? And Bianca? What're you two up to? Getting ready for the big trip?"

"Are Spoink native to Sinnoh, or Hoenn?" asked Touko, without saying hello.

A pause. "Hoenn."

"Oooooh! I told you!" Touko shouted triumphantly, hanging up. "Now who's racist?"

" _The results are in and Sandpan… in the case of the level 57 Spoink, Sandslash, you are_ not _the father!"_ said the voice on the TV, as the Spoink's trainer burst into tears.

"How does that make me racist?"

"Because you can't tell the difference between Sinnoh and Hoenn. Oh, I know, I know! Catch me a Sandslash!"

" _That's still my Pokémon, man! I'm its trainer! I'm gonna train that Pokémon no matter what_!" declared the teary-eyed man on TV. The episode cut to a preview of what would be shown after the commercial break, the conversation changed to a rather banal one about what foreign Pokémon was cutest, and Cheren really, really wished he'd brought a book.

The next thing he knew, Touko was shaking him awake. The source of light in the room had since changed from gentle sunlight to the bright lamp in the corner, and the TV was playing what appeared to be a decades-old sitcom. Cheren sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"You were out like a drowned Charmander's tail," said Touko cheerfully.

"That's… a horrible thing to say," said Cheren groggily.

"Well, Charmander are from Kanto! I want to talk about Kanto to show my support of Bianca!"

Cheren glanced over to see that Bianca was also asleep, in her own bed, with her hand dangling off into a bowl of popcorn. Liepard was nibbling at the popcorn daintily. Cheren withdrew it and Serperior into their Poké Balls, and Stoutland, who had been sadly eyeing the popcorn bowl from afar with its tail wagging slowly, jumped up and bounded towards the tasty treat. "You're awfully excited about someone else's vacation…" Cheren said, smoothing his wrinkled slacks as he stood. "Why don't you just go with her?" He had no doubt that she could afford the expenses.

"Nah... I think Bianca wants to do this on her own," said Touko. A surprisingly thoughtful response. If Touko tagged along, no doubt she'd overshadow her less-outgoing, less-famous friend. Even in Kanto, people would have heard about the Zekrom and Reshiram incident. Touko beamed at him as she turned off the TV. "Maybe some other time, the three of us can take a trip together!"

"We kind of traveled around the whole region together," said Cheren, quietly now, as they left Bianca's room.

"Doesn't count!" Touko didn't bother to keep her voice quiet, but it didn't matter, as Bianca's parents were awake in the kitchen. Cheren waved good-bye to them, and they nodded silently back. "If it ends with you summoning a dragon and fighting off some nutcase who wants to kill you and probably also your friends and also steal everyone's Pokémon, it doesn't count as a vacation."

Cheren couldn't argue with that, so he didn't bother to say anything. As he went to open the door to Bianca's house, though, he noticed that his fingernails were covered with glistening red nail polish.

He gave Touko a look. "Why," he said flatly.

Touko giggled, then showed him her own hands, which had polish on the nails and also specks of it on parts of her fingers that were not her nails. "We gotta paint our nails before someone goes on a trip! It's tradition!"

It had happened exactly once, about three years ago, before Touko was dragged off to spend most of the summer in Agate City. They had been at Bianca's house then, too, in her backyard, with the radio playing on Touko's old hand-me-down PokéGear. For reasons Cheren did not recall, they'd found some old lumpy polish in the medicine cabinet and decided to give each other matching manicures. Cheren had not cared, because there was no school and no one would see his hands but his parents. None of the three had shown any interest in any type of beauty product before or since.

It was sprinkling outside. Cheren sighed. "Probably best to just go home for now," he said, and Touko was already walking in that direction. They would walk together until the middle of the fork in the road, the place where they always used to meet up as children when they wanted to play together but hadn't decided whose house yet. "What time do you want to leave tomorrow?"

"Whenever I wake up?" Touko said, like it was a dumb question. Like of course time didn't matter for her, so of course it wouldn't matter for him either.

"You know? Never mind. I can get there myself," said Cheren. He would have to stop at the bookstore first, after all.

"That's cool, too," Touko said. Neither said anything else, and soon they were at the fork in the road, so Touko left with a wave good-bye and Cheren moved on.


End file.
